Bracing the Soundboard

On the back or inside of the soundboard, hidden from view in the finished guitar, is a series of braces designed to add rigidity without dampening the sound.  The pattern for the bracings is pretty standard in modern guitars.

First, I drew the pattern on the soundboard.

I rough-cut the braces according to the book instructions and then shaped them as needed.  Each of the braces is arched on the bottom so that it helps hold a slight curvature in the soundboard.  Here's the main X-braces being glued:

And then when the glue dried and the soundboard was laid flat you could see the edges lifted up with the curvature.

After all the braces were added and shaped on top as well, here's the final soundboard.  The edges of the soundboard will be trimmed later in the assembly.  You can see that there are several diamond shapes that help hold the soundboard seam together and there is a flat bridge piece that will serve to secure the bridge later.